Quotes

These quotes are from some of the great Martial Artists. Let their words of wisdom and insight inspire and motivate us to greater things

MAS OYAMA

“Always more vital to karate than techniques or strength is the spiritual element that lets you move and act with complete freedom. In striving to enter the proper frame of mind Zen meditation is of great importance. Though we say that this meditation involves a state of impassivity and complete lack of thought, we mean that through meditation we can overcome emotion and thinking and give freer reign to our innate abilities than ever before. The Zen state of selflessness is the same condition of disregard for selfish thoughts and concern for personal welfare that the artist experiences in the heart of creation. The man who wants to walk the way of karate cannot afford to neglect Zen and spiritual training”
Mas Oyama
Vital Karate

“Although it is important to study and train for skill in techniques, for the man who wishes to truly accomplish the way of Budo, it is more important to make his whole life in training and therefore not aiming for skill and strength alone, but also for spiritual attainment.”
Mas Oyama

“Miyamoto Musashi said that he had no regrets about what he did. If you have confidence in your own words, aspirations, thoughts, and actions and do your very best, you will have no need to regret the outcome of what you do. Fear and trembling are the lot of a person who, while stinting effort, hopes that everything will come out precisely as he wants it to.”
Mas Oyama
The Kyokushin Way

“The power of karate cannot be denied; the entire body becomes a weapon capable of things that seem impossible to the uninitiated. But strength is not all there is to karate. Power is no more than a part of – no more than the tip of the iceberg – the limitless profundity and sublimity of karate.”
Mas Oyama
The Kyokushin Way

MIYAMOTO MUSASHI

“…in Zen first comes technique, practiced so many times that it is forgotten. Then you begin to use it. It is when you do not think about it anymore that you do it so well. Zen is no more than that. But it is reaching that state that the training is all about. The professional dancer who makes it look easy has trained constantly and endured great pain. The tennis pro who flies around the court, making impossible shots, does so not because of any superhuman qualities but because he has practiced and practised, as the dancer has, until the movements are internalized. There is no longer any conscious direction in the movement. When you marvel at the way someone whips up a dinner for ten on short notice, or the way someone makes an impromptu speech, you are marvelling at the same thing – the approach, the confidence, the naturalness of the behaviour. There was not time to prepare, no time to think, no time to hesitate. There you are. Zen.”
Miyamoto Musashi
The book of five rings

GICHIN FUNAKOSHI

“True karate is this: that in daily life one’s mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice.”
Gichin Funakoshi

“The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants.”
Gichin Funakoshi